Mexican ambassador caught shoplifting in Buenos Aires resigns

Mexico City, December 23

Mexico’s ambassador to Argentina resigned on Sunday citing health problems following new allegations of shoplifting after video from late October showed the diplomat attempting to steal a $10 book.

Ricardo Valero was recalled earlier this month by Mexico’s foreign ministry amid the fallout from the October 26 incident at a well-known Buenos Aires book store in which he can be seen on security camera footage taking the volume from a shelf and then hiding it inside the pages of a newspaper he tucked under his arm.

The book was reportedly a biography of Giacomo Casanova, the 18th century Italian writer, soldier and spy mainly remembered as a charming adventurer.

The ministry accepted Valero’s resignation on Sunday.

“Ricardo Valero is a great person, he’s undergoing neurological treatment and I wish him a speedy recovery,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard wrote in a post on Twitter.

The latest shoplifting allegation involves the theft of a shirt at a duty free shop at Buenos Aires’ international airport on December 10, according to Argentine media reports, just two days after he was recalled from his post. Reuters